Miley the new Madonna?

21-year-old Miley Cyrus is pop's most polarizing star, pushing people's buttons like the second coming of Madonna.

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By JON BREAM

capecodtimes.com

By JON BREAM

Posted Mar. 15, 2014 at 2:00 AM
Updated Mar 15, 2014 at 7:26 PM

By JON BREAM

Posted Mar. 15, 2014 at 2:00 AM
Updated Mar 15, 2014 at 7:26 PM

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TOUR TALK

Miley Cyrus is the mouse that roars. The former Disney Channel star is as provocative in conversation as she is in action. Here are some of the things she had to say in a conference call with journ...

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TOUR TALK

Miley Cyrus is the mouse that roars. The former Disney Channel star is as provocative in conversation as she is in action. Here are some of the things she had to say in a conference call with journalists before the start of her Bangerz Tour.

On her goal for the tour: "I made my ('Bangerz') album to go on the road. That's really what I love to do. Like everything I do, I don't want it to be unoriginal or fake in any way. Also, I don't have a hard time making fun of myself and making a character of myself. We're definitely keeping it fun and carefree. For me, the best thing is to have people sing along to your songs. The show is very interactive for my fans."

On the spontaneity of her show: "I'm obviously not real choreographed. So every show is going to be different. I really built the show around me and my ADD."

On doing stunts and lip-syncing in concert: "Our show is completely live. So it's hard to do stunts. I want people to be excited about me as a singer rather than what I do to shock people."

On the look of the tour: "John K (Kricfalusi) did a lot of the illustrations for the tour. He does 'Ren & Stimpy.' I went out to dinner with John to talk about the tour, and I've never been so starstruck. He just sat there and drew pictures for two hours. The art from John K and Ben Jones is driving this tour."

On her wardrobe: "There are so many stories in my tour and each designer has been given a story. Clothes for me - or the lack thereof - say a lot. The Blonds have been amazing. Jeremy Scott has been great. We've been inspired a lot by Bob Mackie and we're using some of his archive pieces."

On surprises for the tour: "Nothing in my life is ever secret. I'm a little bit of a hoarder. I'm giving a lot of junk away. When you go to a concert, confetti comes down from the sky and all the kids want to keep the confetti. I want to give them real things like real collector pieces."

On ticket prices: "My thing has never been about making money. I want it to be worth seeing and I understand that my fans are young, especially, and they come with their parents. I already made the money when I was a kid and I'm putting that money into something I care about - my tour and making sure the fans get the best show they possibly can."

On her free time: "I love to go out. I ride motorbikes sometimes when I'm in Nashville. On tour, I feel like I'm a little bit normal."

On her tour bus: "This time I'm bringing a few friends on my bus. Me and my best friend call each other 'Doll.' So we're going to make our bus look like a Barbie doll house. I have a feeling that it'll make every dude puke. It'll be pinked out."

When she twerked on MTV's Video Music Awards? When she appeared nude in the strategically staged "Wrecking Ball" video? When she smoked a bong on YouTube?

Or, conversely, which has been your most disgusting Miley moment?

Miley Cyrus is pop's most polarizing star. She's gone from Disney darling Hannah Montana to a big-voiced, chart-topping wild child. The 21-year-old is pushing people's buttons like the second coming of Madonna.

As with Madonna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and other pop tarts before her, Cyrus is the kind of controversial star that many young women embrace and some moms can't tolerate.

"One of my daughters — she's 16 now — used to be a 'Hannah Montana' fan," said Laura Hlavac of St. Paul, Minn. "With this more provocative style, it seems like Miley's trying to follow the Madonna syndrome. She's lost her appeal around our house. That whole image change is a cheap trick. It's like a publicity stunt."

Fan Brandie Nguyen, 18, of Brooklyn Park, Minn., doesn't see it that way.

"She's going through a big phase and trying to find herself," said Nguyen. "I know what she's doing is wrong in a lot of ways. But it's who she is. I like her for her music and how she looks."

From 2006 to '11, Cyrus, the daughter of 1990s "Achy Breaky Heart" country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, starred on the Disney Channel as goody-goody Hannah Montana — a teen who was ordinary schoolgirl Miley by day and the pop star Hannah at night.

After selling out arenas and scoring two No. 1 albums in real life, Cyrus tried to leave her bubblegum past behind with the more straightforward 2009 hit "Party in the U.S.A." Then, last year, her long brown hair trimmed into a blonde Beatles bowl cut, Cyrus came out roaring, with the big, bold pop smashes "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball," a power ballad that went to No. 1.

MTV named Cyrus its artist of the year for 2013 even though her "Bangerz" album didn't come out until October.

"She's becoming a musician and a true artist," said Tamar Anitai, managing editor of MTV's Buzzworthy blog. "She's really masterful at being provocative digitally and on social media. She's really calling the shots. She is in control of her image. A lot of it is tongue-in-cheek.

"Cyrus is brilliant because she blurs the line between the private and public, and she's done a really, really good job of convincing us that's who she is — a girl who's out there celebrating herself, her fans, her sexuality and her music. She isn't apologetic — nor should she be — about doing the things that kids her age do."

Twin Cities radio personality Lori Barghini is proudly taking three 16-year-olds — daughters of her friends — to see Cyrus as their first concert. She thinks the controversy is much ado about nothing.

"It's when you're young and your hormones are running rampant," she said. "People are always so delicate about sex. Look at Elvis — they were delicate about his pelvis. Sex is part of the music business. It's a way for us to let out young sexual energy without having sex. Going to Miley is a safe naughty."

Barghini is preparing her teen companions for their virginal concert experience. "I told them it would be like kissing a boy, dancing at the prom and going to a nightclub all in one night," she said. "We just love the music. That's why we're going."

Well, judging from concerts so far on the Bangerz Tour, they might see Cyrus humping a human-sized hot dog or simulating sex in front of a guy who looks like former President Bill Clinton.

"People think all I do is come out and shock people," Cyrus said in a teleconference with journalists before the Bangerz Tour started. "I'm about freedom. Everything I do is not to be different to prove a point. It's just because we are different. And be proud of that. And own that. Be true to who you are."

As Cyrus indicated in her recent "MTV Unplugged," she learned from the master: Madonna, who sang with her on that show.

Remember, Madonna rolled around in a wedding dress singing "Like a Virgin" on MTV's very first Video Music Awards in 1984. She showed bondage and same-sex kissing in her banned-by-MTV video for "Justify My Love" in 1990. She posed in the nude for the photo book "Sex" in 1992.

Some of her moves were calculated, others weren't, said Liz Rosenberg, who has been Madonna's publicist since forever.

"She had a message also," said Rosenberg. "From Day 1, Madonna was not afraid of people saying bad things about her. She's fearless."

Madonna set the precedent of using the Video Music Awards to create an indelible moment. Sort of a Super Bowl of the music business without network-TV restrictions, the VMAs are where Britney Spears kissed a girl (Madonna) and liked it, Michael Jackson kissed Lisa Marie Presley, Prince wore pants exposing his butt, Lady Gaga wore a dress made of raw meat and Kanye West grabbed the mic from Taylor Swift.

It's where, as Anitai put it, stars "come to become legendary."

So at last September's VMAs, when Cyrus twerked with a giant foam finger while performing a duet with Robin ("Blurred Lines") Thicke, it became a tipping point in her career — and a never-ending talking point.

Was it gimmicky?

"I don't think a record label would be smart enough to plan this," said Barghini. "Women have to jump higher and work harder for everything. Cher knocked the door down. Women have to use our sexuality. It's one of our few weapons that can be very strengthening. And it's also one thing where we're most vulnerable. So that's the dilemma."